14 DAY TRIAL // Don’t get me wrong, Windows XP is a real survivor, now at over 9 years on the market, and still the dominant operating system by far, with more than three times the usage share of the runner up, which is Windows 7. And yet Windows XP is the past, Windows 7 the future. It’s just a matter of time. XP has already lost over 10% market share since Windows 7 was launched, even more than Windows Vista which is down only about half of that.
With 240 million licenses already sold and the holiday season just around the corner, Microsoft might just make it to the 300 million sold copies of Windows 7 by the end of the year.
Statistics shared by the software giant reveal that Windows 7 uptake is through the rough, with the client enjoying strong adoption as far as both consumers and business customers are concerned.
The numbers of PCs sold worldwide will jump 17% in 2011, to in excess of 400 million, the vast majority of which will come with Windows 7.
In this regard, Windows 7 is bound to kill XP in the next couple of years, ahead of the delivery of the next version of Windows, and make itself into the main rival for Windows 8.
Still, there’s little doubt that XP will still be around, even well after Windows 8 hits the market, supposedly in 2012. After all the operating system will enjoy extended support until 2014.
But customers still running XP well into the next decade will do so rather because they’re stuck, and not because they choose to.
It will be a real pain running XP years from now. And it has already started with such examples as Windows Live Essentials 2011 and Internet Explorer 9. Trust me, Microsoft is simply setting a trend. Additional software developers will follow, and tailor their products exclusively to Windows 7.
Rich Reynolds, general manager of Windows Commercial Product Marketing at Microsoft revealed earlier this week that the company is extremely optimistic about the future of Windows 7 in 2011.
And the growth trend persists, with Windows 7 at approximately 40% market share at the end of next year, it will take just the preservation of momentum for XP to be dethroned. And it will be all downhill for the aging operating system from then.
"It’s been quite a year for Windows 7! Customers of all sizes are moving very quickly to adopt Windows 7.
"We welcome customer feedback so that we can continue to refine the tools and share best practices widely to assist all customers in making the right decisions as they move.
"All signs are pointing to the fact that the time is right for customers to deploy Windows 7 and we are very optimistic about Windows 7 in 2011," Reynolds added.